surely BB on the takeover watch list currently todays news near to years
low with 8% yield bit of a no brainer.............

They are trimming down their business to core matters and all the rumours will come to fruition sooner imho.

Core business, assists any take over and who knows, that is what they are doing the trimming for!

If you can afford the losses on the way before the day happens, have a go.

These shares have lost far too much and prior to the ANL, bid spec were still dropping.

You can make a wad if you pick the right moment, or you can come out even.

Worth it or not????

downside limited to 250p IMHO

About right.

result due 06 August so could come out with some news then ???? could be good timing ???

fair set of results expect re-rating soon

UBS increases Bradford & Bingley price target to 290p from 245p Aug 9 2004

300p looks likeley in short term next guess ????

I am short as of Friday @ 3.47p, short term target 3.20p.

Looking like a tasty short so far, took a few profits today.

What's the significance of Barclay's buying over 8.5mil BB. shares!
Just came up on RNS!

Is it time to buy?

12% yield, and a depreciated sector, prob oversold...

Nice one for the ISA with takeover potential.

No comments here (for 3-months!)... as this Bank//Mortgage Woes unwind....today B&B sells abt 20% to private Equity Co, and the shares come off temp. suspension at 66p ( suggested on Radio, but my delayed screen still shows 74p ).
Eiother way this looks pretty bad - careless etc. and I wonder what spin the execs will put on this "....advancing backwards"...?
Can anyone suggest a reason for investing at these levels?
-OR- is it likley to drop below that magic 50p-level?
EDIT=- This is just below the anticipated "Rights Issue" expected to be at 55p. However, the sp is still falling as Markets worry that things might get worse, esp. if retail investors take fright and don't take up their "Rights".....
Currently, it's the Sell price that's 66p , with Buy about 87p - indeed this is a wide spread for such a Large Cap. and I suspect this indicates MM's are worried they may get lumbered with unsold stock....hence the low Sell-price to discourage Sellers.
...Well, I for one won't pay 80-odd Pence if the sell price is nearly 20% lower.......Oh deary.

yes, what a complete shambles. Only thing is that Private Equity may be taking a punt at these levels in order to sell on in the future subject of course under any agreement made on taking the stake. Looks all a bit desperate and not one I would consider at present.

The biggest worry is if depositors start withdrawing funds just to be on the safe side.

Shh -best keep that to yourself halifax, you will only upset Gordon.

Halifax - interesting msg you give . . . but what-if these deposits are put into the BB. Stocks ( in the Rights Issue)...?
With good timing and some luck, depositors "might" be better served by investing.

The spectre of NRK is with us still and I suspect that queue-footage will run-and-run for the next 20-years, esp. to finance students, showing just how easy it is to turn a problem... into a panic.

it wont worry gordon brown, halifax......after all he uses OUR MONEY, not his own.

another 50 billion for banks, 100 for northern rock, maybe b and b is next to get tens of billions

i wish someone would give me a billion or 2!

this country must be super rich with tthe amount of tens of billions we dish to out to basket cases

dont mention europe either!

The major problems BB is confronted by namely rapidly rising defaults and the increasing cost of wholesale funding will decimate their profitability. Why would anybody increase their shareholding now in a company heading for the rocks whose captain has just jumped overboard? Throwing good money after bad springs to mind.

Looks like a sell-off based on a broken Business Model....and some US investors thinks they have some value at 55p
That should tell punters that today's sp is 50% overpriced!
Oh deary.

Still, I expect the Directors will have a good Bonus!!!
...Rewards for Failure..ringing in my ears.

EDIT 6 June08 - Directors buy abt. 400k-worth at somewhere between 70-75p
-as a result the sp has gone up today= 74p(buy) - but despite this we have the spectre of the bargain 55p. - this is significantly below the current price...NOTE that Morgan Stanley suggested 50p as target price - so this might be the reason for the Dir. Buys- i.e. before the Official Rights issue.........to show their support etc....however, this is likley to be a blip, if the Co woes are really bad.
I think this says....wait.
Interesting comments in IC today(Friday 6Jn08))

BB. has something to hide...


Bradford & Bingley denies Cowdery access to books for due diligence - report
AFX

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Bradford & Bingley Plc. on Wednesday night denied entrepreneur Clive Cowdery access to its books to carry out due diligence as part of his proposed rescue plan for the embattled mortgage lender, the Financial Times reported.

The board of Bradford & Bingley met on Wednesday to discuss new proposals put forward by Cowdery's investment vehicle Resolution which would see 400 million pounds being injected into the mortgage lender.

The board rejected Cowdery's request to carry out due diligence because of the additional uncertainty and delay his proposal would create, the paper said.

Resolution's proposal rejected on Tuesday would have usurped Texas Pacific Group's plans to take a 23 percent stake in the company, and Bradford & Bingley's plans to raise a further 258 million pounds by selling new shares to existing investors.

BB. is digging its own grave now...now dropped from 82p to 65p.


Resolution withdraws Bradford & Bingley proposals on management resistance
AFX


LONDON (Thomson Financial News) - Resolution Ltd said that it has withdrawn its share placing proposal for Bradford & Bingley Plc., due to opposition from the board of the troubled buy-to-let lender.

The bid vehicle, run by Clive Cowdery, said in a statement Friday that the 'entrenched position' of the B&B board has 'prevented constructive engagement necessary to finalise this proposal'.

The proposal, rejected on Tuesday, would have usurped Texas Pacific Group's plans to take a 23 percent stake in the company, and Bradford & Bingley's plans to raise a further 258 million pounds by selling new shares to existing investors.

Resolution added that its bid was supported by investors.

good job i did not buy may be i will buy at .05p

The terms of the rights issue mean Citi and UBS as underwriters will end up controlling BB if shareholders do not take up their rights, which are at today's sp currently worthless. Some shareholders might be pleased this may happen but the institutional shareholders may disagree, looks like the end game for BB is near.

Market cap now down to 275m any sign of the "white knight" or even a "black horse"?

oh well, thats another financial down the pan.....nrk, now this.....reckon al. could be next

how much of taxpayers money do the gov need for this.....tens of billions for nrk, now potentially more going bust

this is steaming ahead today...........cant see the gov letting any bank / building society or major housebuilder go bust.....pity i never bought in last week

DITTO/

Bought in today could get taken out or recover 2 3 4 who knows.

I thought their results were due today
Anybody know when?

I read on another site they are due August 6, but that is unconfirmed

cheers

B&B rights issue takeup just 27.8% - MoneyAM

Mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley said today that shareholders subscribed to buy 27.8% of shares in its 400m rights issue. Underwriters Citigroup and UBS will now have to place the remaining 597 million new shares by Friday's close.

The two investment banks are supported by four major shareholders and six clearing banks that have agreed to back the underwriters.

B&B offered its shares at 55p each in the issue and its shares were trading just above that level as subscriptions closed on Friday.

The bank said separately that there had been 'no material change in the current trading and outlook' since its trading statement published in June. B&B is due to release first-half results on August 29th.

Not as bad as I thought it would be !!

Holding these and accumulating they will recover long term IMO

Taking a proper hammering now, and the institutions have not started unloading yet !!

BB. will go to 30p

WHY/??????????????????

Good support at 40p but if it doesnt hold could see 34/35p by close. Ouch !!!

Now the Vultures have surfaced, the tiddlers don't stand a chance of surviving as independants..... So, who's going to take over BBs share of the mortgage market then?

Barclays imho if any.

The amount they hold has risen recently considering they were dumped quite a few during the share offer. Though this may be through some of their investment branches.

Todays news release looks like a paring down prior to a takeover - ie the old bosses get the blame for job losses, not the new ones

possibly...
what price for a t/over and would shareholders get anything?

Terminado..

with the number of sheep and cowards out there in the market this is certainly possible. If people took the time to read the detail SIV's, CDO's etc already written to zero. On top of that they are one of the best capitalised savings banks in the UK. But clearly means nothing to anyone as the city tossers have found another victim whether they be right or wrong. im still a buyer and will continue to buy until they close the doors as the fundamentals do not justify this public slaughter.

If it's not possible to open any new short positions, the only ones who could be dumping the amounts involved are the banks who recently covered the rights issue - who just happen to be the ones who will take B & B over for a pittance when it's share price is driven into the ground .... that's even more corrupt than shorting it to death !

edit :- Tiger Global own up to having a > 1% short open - that's 10 mill shares - is it new or old? ...... have I missed a loophole somewhere that means it's ok to completely ignore new laws on opening short positions providing it's BB. shares? Either way, it's 10mill that have to be covered somehow ...

There seems to be 2 threads here...!.

Could they fall to 10p that is the question..


At 8p they might be worth a go.

no need to worry.......everything will be bust soon.....banks, housebuilders, then all companies.
western world is about to collapse cos of greed

we will go communist soon

Hey scotsman I won my 20p bet then.

uk will still go bankrupt.........china will rule us soon......and we will be marching military style to work

Another one bites the dust...


Troubled bank Bradford & Bingley is to be nationalised, the BBC has learned.

Officials from the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have been in talks with executives from the bank in a bid to secure its future.

BBC business editor Robert Peston says the Treasury will then speedily sell B&B's 200 branches and its savings business to a bank or number of banks.

B&B told savers deposits were safe and Treasury minister Yvette Cooper said they would be "properly protected".

Ms Cooper told the BBC negotiations were still ongoing, but the chancellor would make a statement before the markets opened on Monday.

"We've been very clear that the priority is to make sure that depositors, that ordinary savers, are properly protected, but also that we can support the financial stability of the banking system as a whole."

B&B's share price plummeted to a record low last week.

Thread now closed.

No it's not.

i know i have a biased opinion as out of pocket 85K but this has a tinge of Stalinist Russia about it. I am sick of hearing that its another NR. Apart from the slight differences that it was well capitalised, did not have a run on it, did not have to pay an emergency loan back to the BOE and more importantly (prior to the seizure) part of it was sold for more than it was valued on Friday. Clearly criminal acts are not criminal if carried out by governements. I cant believe the banks that underwrote the share issue 3 months ago are happy, nor the fact if the government is out of pocket the other banks pick up the tab. I am so pleased i packed my bags and left blightly as that fat scottish Ass of a PM will turn the UK into a waste line

Yes it is B & B are ruined.

so is britain.............can we close britain too?

its actually an insult to stalin as stalin was probably the best project manager the world has seen......things were done on time.........now what things r done on time in this country?
also the fems there are easier on the eye than the shallow, fat ugly women we have to put up with in this country who think a size 16 is average.

if we had stalin, we wouldnt have banks in this financial mess.......and we wouldnt have immigration issue as all of us would be british.......and we wouldnt have security costs which r massive as we would all trust each other unlike present day.

about time we ended capitalism, it doesnt work

Does Lab gov think there will be no fallout from the banks who, lets face it, were forced to take up a 50p share issue, then have the shares valued at 0p less than two months later? If the bank of England had simly provided lending facilities for B&Bs loans, the business would've carried on as a going concern ....... so why the rush to nationalise it? Something very wrong here ......

I can see a deal having to be done whereby the shares have some value, even if it's only the 50p the banks paid ..... how long it takes to sort out is anybody's guess.

this country is slowly going communist......but without the fun of the russian ladies

if stalin's project was mass murder verging on genoicide, then he was indeed most proficient, finding in mao a first class pupil! ......

with regard to women's sizing, i am sorry to tell you that size 14/16 (38/40" hip) has been the uk average since about 1950 .... it is only in the modern males fantasy that the average is 8/10 ..... that said, there is a big difference (sorry about the pun) between a fit and toned 14/16 and a flabby one ...... sorry girls, but it's true!

gordon brown and co are closet commies and look where we are!

Labour have spent too much on nonsense projects all over the place....they get themselves into a mess....and their only solution is to raise taxes again...and so forth....spend and tax....now there is no more money in the bank....and the worse thing is that millions will vote for these prats again...!.

thats cos most people r uneducated or have little education...........1 in 5 cant read or write...........i in 5 young people up to 22 do nothing (no training, uni or in work).........and thats without all the other morons who zombie like live day to day in dead end jobs on 5 quid an hour.
the state runs most people lives now in this country.

ps: stalin didnt do mass murder.......if u look at gulags, they were work camps.....death rate was about 1 or 2% most years..........i'm not saying it was pleasant but western propoganda is still full of made up stories as they dont know the facts.

stalin (and mao!) ..... hmm! beg to differ as would the many millions who were forcefully "exported" ..... i guess you reckon the Katyn Forest massacre story (and perhaps the nazi concentration camps) is pure disinformation too

i am quite sure that many who are in "dead end jobs" would rather be doing something more fulfilling (to them) .... the hourly rate they are paid is out of their control if they wish to work rather than sponge off the taxpayer

Bradford & Bingley's public sell-off 'flawed'
Shareholders claim 2008 privatisation was contrary to democracy


Bradford & Bingley's public sell-off 'flawed'
Shareholders claim 2008 privatisation was contrary to democracy

The nationalisation of Bradford and Bingley in 2008 was a "flawed decision" that not only destroyed shareholder interests but also a "viable business", it has been claimed.

Investors hit by the company's collapse have expressed their dismay in submissions to the Information Commissioner's Office, which has so far prevented them from accessing any of the official documents.

The Bradford & Bingley Shareholder Action Group, which represents almost a million former shareholders, will appear before a tribunal later this month in their quest for compensation.

In documents seen by The Independent on Sunday, the BBAG said: "It is four years, six months since the nationalisation and despite thousands of requests from B&B share and bond holders, they still do not know why the Government and tripartite regulatory authorities acted as they did.

"B&B had a far stronger balance sheet than Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS) and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), despite this, its savings book and branch network were sold thus destroying it as a viable business and with the Government having control of the winding down process, a matter of continuing and considerable concern to the former shareholders and remaining bond holders.

"Why was B&B treated differently to these other banks?"

Bradford & Bingley, which sponsored many high profile cricket and rugby league teams, was highly exposed to the troubled buy-to-let mortgage market, ran into difficulties when funding from the wholesale money markets dried up at the start of the crisis.

The Government merged Bradford & Bingley's toxic mortgage debt with the so-called "bad bank" of Northern Rock, which was nationalised in 2007. Other parts were sold to Santander for £612m.

The news comes just days after two separate lawsuits were lodged by campaigners seeking redress for losses suffered during Royal Bank of Scotland's rights issue in 2008, which failed to prevent its falling into state ownership several months later.

"In BBAG's view the decision to nationalise B&B was neither proportionate nor equitable and not consistent with the support given to other banks at the time," the group added.

"If a government confiscates the property of its citizens without reason, explanation or fair compensation, particularly when it may be seen as at fault in its duty of care to savers and investors by not adequately regulating the companies involved in the banking crisis, then all concepts of democracy and equity are laid aside.

"We submit, the role of fair and honest government is devalued."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bradford--bingleys-public-selloff-flawed-8562862.html